Author: Port Pacers

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Coffs Domination, Bushy Pilgrims and a Goat!

Coffs Harbour Running Festival came and went. There was 4 events on the card – a half marathon, 10km, 5km and a 3km race. Incredibly, Pacers won 2 of the 4 events, podiumed a 3rd and scored an age group win also! Pretty handy!

On the other side of the Globe, Gary and Jenny took a pilgrimage to Bushy parkrun, the spiritual home of parkrun, with Gary coming 100th overall!

Meanwhile, Social Sunday was a hit in North Haven, as we prepare for the upcoming Beach To Brother

And, for reasons we can’t really explain, LJ brought a goat along to a run! Will it become our mascot? We need one.

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Saving Lives and Celebrations

Like a scene from BayWatch the Tuesday Crew saved a poor lass from drowning this week, when she fumbled her phone and then accidentally chased it into the Hastings River, just as they were beginning their Intervals session. Quicker than you can say ‘No Kiel, leave your singlet on’, they were helping her up the 1m drop and to safety. #Heroes

Speaking of wetness, Gary got himself a good soaking at Lake Macquarie parkrun, where he met up with our favourite Plodder Don. We miss you Don!

And on the other end of the spectrum, Chel went west to Goondiwindi, where she blitzed the field to be the first female home at parkrun. #QueenOfTheWest

Oh, and did we mention it was our second birthday. We celebrated in style, pacing parkrun. We had pacers pacing every minute from 18 minutes through to 40, and even a very pregnant Kylie had a crack pacing a lonely 50 minutes. Hopefully this will become a yearly tradition (the pacing, not the pregnancy)

Meanwhile, Sue did her 100th Port Macquarie parkrun, and scored herself an entry into their Hall of Fame!

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The Run With No Medals :-(

But there’s nothing so lonesome, so morbid or drear
Than to stand at the start, of an event with no medals.
The sad story of the Pacer Ladies who snuck out to Brissie for the Bridge to Bridge Run, only to return home with no bling :-O Look at those sad faces 🙁

On a positive note though, the (CK)arina’s tackled Zillmere parkrun, and collected a parkrun alphabet Z for their efforts!

Closer(?) to home, a lunatic fringe braved a very early start and headed to Urunga to help celebrate its 100th parkrun. Hoping to finally crack 100 attendees, unfortunately they maxed out at 92, which is still a record for most attendees.

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Hills, Hills, Hills

It was a weekend of Hills Madness this weekend, with the highlight being Adams epic second placing in the Mudgee Marathon. What starts out as a lovely country run alongside vineyards takes a turn for the worse about halfway through, where you run a mountain for about 6kms 🙁 #ouch

Closer to home, Dave, Steve and Cliff decided King of The Mountain wasnt quite gruelling enough, so ran 20kms along the beach and trails from Lake Cathie to the bottom of North Brother mountain, before taking on the King Of The Mountain event. No quads were harmed in the making of these photos, we’ve been told

And the ladies took their dogs to the #dirtydogtrail event with Mel and Hinata securing the win, and Laura, Vilius and Turbo a second placing. #woof

Lastly, congratulations to Rob for entering the Port Macquarie parkrun Hall of Fame, with his 100th Port Macquarie parkrun this weekend

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Trippin’

It was the weekend for travelling this weekend, with Lizzie and Claire heading south, a small crew took on the challenge of City To Surf, Carina knocked off our NENDY with a trip to Grafton, and the Poltoraskys went really west – to the Barossa where Leon scored himself a podium!

The journey begins though in Tuggeranong parkrun, where Lizzie and Claire were in fine form, both setting parkrun PBs. Great work ladies!

In Sydney, Paul, Amanda, Clarissa and Julie battled the crowds at City to Surf

Meanwhile Carina knocked off our club NENDY (nearest event not done yet) when she completed Grafton parkrun. Our NENDY now moves to Blue Gum Hills, 202kms from Port Macquarie in Minmi, which is west of Newcastle.

And lastly, in the Barossa, Natalia smashed out a half marathon, while Leon ran the 10km with Nik, and somehow secured himself an age-group podium! #LikeABoss

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Beanies, golden guitars, emus and capes…

Well, it was a mixed bag on the weekend!

The Pacers showed their support for the Mark Hughes Foundation’s Beanies for Brain Cancer fundraiser with a run/walk and breakfast on Sunday, raising $220 towards this worthy cause.

A crew of eight Pacers took home their very own Golden Guitar medals from the Tamworth Running Festival – well done to Alisha, Madeline, Belynda, Dana, Max, Cliff, Gary and James! Well done to Gary on his Age Group win, and special mention to James for taking out the coveted sprint medal as well!!!

Chel and Dave made a new friend at Nambour Parkrun, Fluffy the emu! Selfies all round!

And the one and only Trish Davis jetted off to Bellerive parkrun as part of her Medibank parkrun hero prize, taking her nominator Lizzy J with her for the ride.

Last but not least, Dave ran an epic sub-4hr marathon at Sunny Coast… what a legend!!! Congrats!

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Chills, Thrills and Sunday Hills

Did someone say Bushy?? Congrats to Julie for completing her trek to the home of parkrun, Bushy park last weekend. And speaking of parkrun, congrats to Dawso for completing his 100th parkrun on the weekend!

Meanwhile, we’re not sure what on earth is going on with our ThursDAY crew, but they’ve taken to recreating album covers in their post run photos!

Congratulations to Natalia for completing her first ultra-marathon, taking on the brutal Elephant Trail Race on Saturday, and the rest of the crew competing on Sunday in the the 25km and 13km.

Further to the south, Social Sunday trekked the last stages of the Beach To Brother course, as training for the event ramps up. Some running, some walking, some choosing the flatter options of a river run/walk. Well done to all.

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Pacers get busted on the Gold Coast

A small crew of Pacers travelled to one of our groups’ favourite destination races on the weekend, with team members competing in the 10km, half marathon and marathon at the Gold Coast Marathon event.

Karina and Dana took on the not-so-nice conditions on Saturday to complete the 10km.

Young master Binskin continues to smash goals, taking out an age-group win in the 10km! Congrats Ryan!!!

Rachel, Shannon, Amanda and Jo earned some new bling with an early start in the half marathon on Sunday. Well done ladies!

Cliff paced Adam to his first, long-awaited sub-3hr marathon, finally shaking the monkey off his back! Fabulous effort Adam!

Steve bagged a new PB, joining forces with Binnie up to about the 35km before soldiering on alone to finish strong. Gary and Dan smashed out another marathon each, and Dave encouraged Cindy through the sufferfest that is the last 10km of the mara to complete her first 42.2km.

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Pacers take on Wauchope, Dave and Mads’ 50th parkrun

A huge contingent of very rugged up Pacers ran and drove to Wauchope on Saturday. There were some impressive performances, with members taking out age category records for the scenic course and PPL handicaps busted all over the place.

Dave and Mads celebrated their 50th parkrun with cake (of course) and a finish line guard of honour.

Off we go to Taree parkrun this weekend!

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A sea of Pacer blue at South West Rocks Running Festival

The Pacer blue was everywhere at South West Rocks last Sunday, with members entered in every event from the kids 300m to the full marathon, and plenty of podium action to boot.

There were outright placings, age groups placings and personal bests left, right and centre and the Pacers taking out the team shield for the event was the icing on the cake!

Some of the achievements across the races included Cliff’s outright first place in the marathon, Toni and Laura taking out second and third place respectively in the marathon, Clarissa third female in the 10km and age group wins for Natalia (marathon), Adam (10km) and Ryan (10km).

A few members tackled the full marathon distance for the first time including Madeline, Gary and Natalia. Congratulations guys!

Plenty of PBs were achieved as well – Jo and Steve Ashton and Chel among them!

Lastly a shout out to those members who couldn’t compete in their usual distance or at their usual speed but still participated and helped the team take out the shield!